An Anaheim Ducks blog, from the perspective of a hockey fan armed with a camera

In praise of Bobby Ryan

"The biggest thing is just his poise and his hands are unbelievable. I played with [Evgeni] Malkin and [Sidney] Crosby, and those guys are probably the two best in the league. Bobby's hands are right with those guys... He's a superstar in the making, it seems."
---Ryan Whitney, former Ducks defenseman

Friday, January 23, 2009

By now, I'm sure you've heard the news. The Ducks lost both back-to-back games against New York, first with the Rangers, then with the Islanders. LOST TO THE ISLANDERS?!? A team riding an eight-game losing streak?!? The worse team in the entire league?!?

Ugh. Talk about losing streaks.

I don't feel like doing the oh-so-sad play-by-play, so why don't we just do a little commentary instead. Yeah, you're gonna have to listen to me blab and spread my opinion around like Country Crock.

It isn't as if the Ducks didn't fight for this one. Their power plays were great, their offense was strong, their defense (well, besides J.S. Giguere, but more on that later) was excellent. They outnumbered the Islanders in shots on goal nearly three-fold, and there were so many Duck pucks ringing the goal posts and dangling inside the Islander crease. I don't think I've ever seen so many close goals. After digging a 0-2 hole in the first period, our Ducks were robbed, people. ROBBED!

Kudos to Islanders goaltender Yann Danis, who chose this game to really come into his own. He made a number of excellent saves, and under continuous pressure, because his defensemen weren't doing a whole lot to help him out. He got lucky a whole heckuvalot as well, but one thing's for sure, he's the reason the Islanders won this one.

He also ended Ryan Getzlaf's 10-point streak. What a goober.

The one goal that the Ducks were able to land was a beauty. An assist from Capt. Scott Niedermayer to Corey Perry, who deftly took the puck down the Islander zone and then a quick backhanded pass to Bobby Ryan who slipped it past Danis for his, count 'em, eight goals in the last NINE games.

Is my boy hot or what?

I have a hunch that, if Jonas Hiller didn't start his turn in the net behind a two-goal Islander lead, he could have helped bring his teammates to a win. And that's not to pay any disrespect to Giggy, but he definitely hasn't been on his game recently. Whether it has anything to do with the loss of his father earlier in the season or something else in his personal life, it has affected his goaltending. Maybe he just needs some time away from the game. Unfortunately, he isn't going to get it anytime soon. Now he has to go into the All Star game with yet another pull and another loss under his belt.

Either way, giving up so many goals has to affect the whole team. They are undoubtedly already frustrated by the losing streak (exception against the Minnesota Wild), and I'm sure this kind of early blow lowers morale. By the third period, the Ducks seem tired. The second was incredibly strenuous, and probably left the boys with too little energy in the third for that equalizer.

Well, there will be a break for the All Stars events which, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to watch the festivities... my crappy-ass cable provider doesn't offer Versus. Maybe it'll be worth the drive to my parents so that I can use their DirecTV.

Hopefully, our boys will make good use of the break and be able to come back with a win against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Acknowledgments

Photos in the headers and sidebar appear courtesy of zimbio.com. Photos within the text of the blog are ones that I have taken myself unless otherwise cited. Please do not reproduce them without my permission, thanks! --Ducks54